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By Kareem FahimThe New York Times • Saturday December 28, 2013 10:22 AM

CAIRO — Defying the widening crackdown against them, supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood
marched in cities across Egypt yesterday, protesting the government’s decision to declare the group
a terrorist organization and clashing with security forces in several places.

At least three people were killed in Cairo, Damietta and Minya yesterday, as officers fired tear
gas and birdshot at protesters who threw rocks, burned tires and set fire to police vehicles.

The Interior Ministry, which oversees the police, said it had arrested 265 people across the
country, illustrating the government’s resolve to move forcefully against the Brotherhood — the
government’s principal political opponent — in the weeks leading up to a planned constitutional
referendum in January.

Most of the Brotherhood’s leadership and thousands of its members are in prison, having been
rounded up during a sustained assault on the movement after the military ousted Egyptian President
Mohammed Morsi, a Brotherhood leader, in July.

The state’s security services have killed hundreds of Morsi’s supporters at protests.

But the terrorist designation, which the government announced on Wednesday, outlawed the
more-than-80-year-old Islamist movement, imposing prison terms for belonging to or promoting the
Brotherhood and potentially imposing the death penalty for those convicted of being leaders in the
movement.

The decision reflected the ascendance of hard-liners in the military-backed government, who
favored eradicating the Brotherhood after the ouster of Morsi.

On Thursday, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry called Egypt’s foreign minister to express
concern about the designation and the recent arrests, the State Department said.

There were indications that the Egyptian government had taken on more than it could handle by
outlawing the Brotherhood and anyone associated with it, including a network of social-service
organizations and charities that provide services to millions of Egyptians.

On Thursday, Egyptian officials partially reversed a decision to freeze the assets of more than
1,000 of the nongovernmental groups, saying they could continue operating. Questions remained,
however, about how the government would disburse the frozen assets.

Yesterday’s protests appeared to show that the Brotherhood, although crippled, remains unbowed
for now. There were pitched battles yesterday at Al-Azhar University, where student supporters of
Morsi have held repeated demonstrations in recent weeks as a wave of university protests across the
country has vexed the authorities. In designating the Brotherhood a terrorist group, the government
gave the police broader authority to clamp down on the campus protests.